Shopper has a 'great grab’

Press, 27 July 1989, Page 6

Shopper has a 'great grab’

By

ANABRIGHT HAY

Shoppers pressed against shelves, tins bounced on the floor and a juice carton sprang a leak during the Pepsi Cola Great Grocery Grab by Mrs Margaret Gardiner at Countdown in Riccarton yesterday. Clad in track suit and tennis shoes and aided by a group of friends, Mrs Gardiner ran down the aisles plucking items from shelves and warning people to make way. Mrs Gardiner of Spreydon had 10 minutes to grab items to the value of $lOOO, as the prize for her being drawn as the winner in the national competition. Shoppers buying Pepsi filled in coupons at supermarkets.

Lucky draws were announced on the radio. The South Island sales manager of Pepsi Cola, Mr Mark Smith, said similar grabs had been held in other New Zealand supermarkets but because this was the final one for this series the prize doubled. A regular shopper at Countdown in Riccarton, Mrs Gardiner was familiar with the layout and her friends were not short of shopping suggestions as she sped around the aisles. "I couldn’t stop thinking about it over the last few days and I have just bought a new freezer,” she said. Mrs Gardiner said the time went

quicker than she thought. At the end she had filled 17 trolleys heaped with a wide assortment of goodies, listed on her mental shopping list. One checkout assistant totalled the pile on a docket which looked more like a scarf than a grocery bill. Mrs Gardiner was still smiling when the total of $4019.50 was announced. The items represent about nine months of groceries. But they might not last this long because Mrs Gardiner has 11 brothers and sisters and two children who she expects will help her use her prize.